Some pics from a basement with planted tanks..!

[MickeM]

Hi !

I took a walk to my friends "planted" basement with hope of some new pics.
His hobbies are killifishes, tanks without filters/mechanical circulation, sphagnum tanks, plants, snails, live food, bettas,apistos and all kind of small fishes and shrimps.

He often put his Apistos in tanks with "AquaClay Sand"(??) or just sphagnum + various plants, snails.
Water pH - approx. 6-6,5 .
"Common" T8-lightning (827,840), approx. 6 hours/day.
Temp. 20-26 Celsius.
kH ?
microSiemens ?

I know some of the pics are not of top quality, but I just want to show a different way to do IT...

Over the years he got fry from several Apistos..(eremnopyge, agassizzi, cacatouides, barlowi, baenschi, sp."miua",rubrolineata, staecki)

Pics:
1,20 - Vesicularia+Ceratopteris - Ap. diplotaenia (Not at home today.. hiding)
2 - ??? Ap.spec. "blutkehl" -:-
3,4 - ???? Ap. mendezi
5,6 - Utricularia gibba,Echinodorus sp., Microsorium sp. - Ap. pulchra (Shy,hiding)
7 -19 ???? Ap. spec. "Abacaxis"


/MickeM

 

[MickeM]

Hi all..

Some more pics from this basement...

Spawning tanks+ equipment.. made for picking up eggs to a hatching tank where fry are kept their first week or two..

Pic 1-2 : Spawning mop in a tank with Congopanchax brichardi.. Eggs in mop are put away by hand and hatched in a separate tank.
Pic 2-3 : Similar breeding tank after 3-4 months..
Pic 4-6 : Spawning device for Procatopus species.. (Placing their eggs in small cracks.. here in form of a plastic tube with clean filter media inside)
Pic 7 : One of the tank "sections" in his basement.

 

[MickeM]

And here are some of his fishes!!

Killies from South America:
Hypsolebias fulminantis, (1-3)
Hypsolebias picturatus, (4-6)
Hypsolebias magnificus, (7-8)

Killies from Africa:
Nothobranchius kafuensis "Lukanga Swamp", (9-11)
Nothobranchius rachovii "Beira", (12-15)
Nothobranchius kilomberoensis "Ifakara", (16-17)

 

[Ekona]

Pic 1-2 : Spawning mop in a tank with Congopanchax brichardi.. Eggs in mop are put away by hand and hatched in a separate tank.

Very nice, Micke, and you've got C. brichardi! - it would be great if you could put up a breeding log with photos on those under "West African Tankmates" or whatever. Very rare and not the easiest to breed. Good luck with them.

Generally, I've not seen apistos kept in such densely planted tanks as yours - but I'm sure they like it and any fry produced would have a good chance of surviving amongst all the vegetation etc.. Great looking tanks and nice selection of species. Look forward to more

 

[MickeM]

Hi Ekona + all..

Many thanks!! I`m afraid the C. brichardi and all the other fishes are not mine..
They belong to my friend.. He keep/collect a lot of killies and other odd species in some xtra rooms.. in the basement of his store..!
From what I know, the fry from his C. brichardi grows OK..
I may take some pics of them too.. (With my simple camera!!)

In the Apisto tanks he often gets some fry, but in order to manage to breed large batches in small tanks I think you will have to remove the
parents ..or the batch of fry...
I wrote a comment on that in this thread.. (It`s my experience/theory.. not a proven fact)

http://www.apistogramma.com/forum/threads/apistogramma-tucururi.19001/#post-92523

 

[Ekona]

Oh I see, I went right to the photos when quickly reading the post . Not yours but your friends...
Maybe you can team up and document that species - really nice. Not to many good photos or documentation of breeding methods etc for them - a great opportunity - hope it works out either way .

Yep, I removed parents from fry tanks and got quite a nice batch of A. agassizii and A. gephyra and C. dimidiatus fry growing out. That method works well for raising fry IME.

Thanks, again, M!

 

[MickeM]

Hi Ekona + all..

Here are some more pics on these small jewels.. Congopanchax brichardi !!
One can not see their amazing blueish colour/ red and black fins very easy..
but my poor pics reveal what they might look like in a perfect tank with correct lightning!!??

I also added some pics of the small soft-plastic candy boxes ..
where my friend put the fry after they have been hatched and monitored in the small flat hard-plastic containers in the shelf for the first week or so..

In the small tanks on the low first shelf level/row he keeps his Diapteron species!!!

The small tank with Microsorium sp. is almost prepared for a couple of some killiefish.. I guess he will add some floating plants..??

And of course.. some planted tanks!!

At last.. 2 close-up pics of Aphyoplatys duboisi, "Dem. Rep. Congo, CI 2014".

Cheers
Micke

 

[MickeM]

Took some pics in the basement today..!!
The average temp. is rising in Sweden now..(Spring+Summer coming soon.. hopefully!!), and probably resulting in better conditions for our tropical plants!!

If you don`t cut your plants in time..you really get some proof that they actually may not be "aquatic-/underwater-plants" !!

The Microsorium sp.-tank became an Indostomus crocodilus -tank!! ( Small-tank-pic..One small specimen at the bottom+middle of the pic!!)

I could not help to add some poor pics of his Hemichromis sp., they are gorgeous to be seen live!!! (From Nigeria if I remember it correct !!??)

/Micke

 

[aarhud]

Wow awesome plant growth. Can you fill us in on his plant care routine.

 

[abrooks12376]

Must be nice and humid in there! Pretty excellent sir

 

[MickeM]

Hi aarhud+ abrooks12376 + all..

My friend fill up his big tank(Pic 1) with prepared pH6,5-water..when it has evaporated to approx. 2/3 of maximum..
He then slowly pumps in cold water(15-18C ).. through a "hard-plastic" "hang-on" "U-tube".. ending somewhere close to the bottom of the tank..
The warmer water then rises to the surface where it runs out via a wide robust overflow-tube which passes(and silicon-glued..) through a hole , drilled in the glass bottom of the tank.
The amount of "old" water running out varies depending on the current situation..
A new home made "load of CO2" is prepared in the plastic buckets underneath the tanks, leading up to the small internal filter via the soft thin blue tube ( seen to the left!!).. He also add some kind of PMDD..!!
After 6 weeks he will have to reload the "CO2"..

And the humidity.. it is not a problem since my friend uses coverslips on the tanks..and only keep snails+plants+ do regular waterchanges to maintain OK waterquality.. (I guess you can imagine the quiet and calm basement!!! ..filled with interesting tanks!!)
No pumps/powerheads/internal filters !!!(except in very few tanks!!)..the sand is the filter!!.. and he uses no heaters!!!
The lamps (+ the natural bacterial activity in the gravel/sand????) "build up" the temp as it seems...

Here are some more pics!!
( Hemichromis sp. , Erethistes jerdoni..)

 

[MickeM]

..and some more!!! (Boraras birgittae..(?), Betta mahachaiensis, Odontocharacidium aphanes(?)..)

 

[MickeM]

Planted tanks, Aphyosemion rectogoense, Apistogramma staecki, planted tanks..and Apistogramma agassizii (Tefe Blue???????).

 

[MickeM]

BTW.. The agassizii male was recently brought in to my friend by one of his costumers!!! A real beauty.. I hope that he was given some females too...!!??

 

[MickeM]

Some pics I took a month ago!!!

Indostomus crocodilus... ( I guess you can see the reason for their name on pic No: 6 ???!!!)

At this moment...some specimen of this species are apparently available for 2 more days... if you live in the U.S.

http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fw&1437163673

If you want a small and odd fish.. this could be it!!!

/Micke