What to do now?

[MacZ]

 

[MacZ]

 

[MacZ]

Welcome to the dry season.

Stocking: 1,0 Apistogramma hongsloi, 3 Paracheirodon axelrodi

 

[HookedOnFish_MI]

Welcome to the dry season.

Stocking: 1,0 Apistogramma hongsloi, 3 Paracheirodon axelrodi
View attachment 10030

View attachment 10029

Love the look! What’s the silver wand on the surface?

 

[MacZ]

Thanks! It's the black (though reflecting) spraybar of the filter.

 

[MacZ]

Some updates. I got some Nannostomus eques today and added some Staurogyne repens to try and see what happens.

And the A. hongsloi is still digging.

 

[rasmusW]

Looks great Mac.
Will you continue on wet/dry seasons? -or was that just for fun?

-r

 

[MacZ]

Thanks!

I'm a bit torn, cause actually I like the paludarium-look and the pothos plant only really took off after I lowered the water and put it under the light.

But: My flat is right under the roof and summer is drawing closer. The past years the room temperature could reach up to 36°C and more. A bigger volume of water is much more temperature stable, so it may happen that towards June or July I'll raise the waterline again, just to have a less hard time to keep temperatures within healthy range.
Guess that would mean winter will be dry season and summer rainy season from now on.

Will see, no need to decide within the next few weeks.

 

[MacZ]

 

[Samala]

Winter dry season and summer wet season is very much in keeping with actual seasonality patterns. Should work nicely.

I'm impressed with the Hydrocotyle growth. This literally grows as a rampant weed in my yard and flower beds. Cannot get it to take hold in tanks.

 

[MacZ]

Winter dry season and summer wet season is very much in keeping with actual seasonality patterns. Should work nicely.

I hope so, just one problem with the temperatures. Those should be higher in the dry season and lower in the wet season.

I'm impressed with the Hydrocotyle growth. This literally grows as a rampant weed in my yard and flower beds. Cannot get it to take hold in tanks.

I got the first pieces from a friend that keeps them in a tank with CO2, so they had some advantage. I guess the many leaves that reach to the surface are giving it still the advantage of using atmospheric CO2. Plus being just anchored on the wood and otherwise floating in the light.

 

[anewbie]

Not 100% sure about apisto but some fishes require the warm/cold season for health reason....

 

[MacZ]

Not 100% sure about apisto but some fishes require the warm/cold season for health reason....

If I kept native european species (especially differend species of carps and cyprinids) I would need a cooler for winter to give them the necessary low temperatures.
All species I have here are from around the Equator, so the lowest temperatures would come with rainstorms pressing down to 20-23°C for a few hours and maximum would be around 30°C at the end of the dry season. Average is around 26-27°C. I keep the tank at 25-26°C, maxing out in summer to 28-29°C.
A. borellii can be found in regions where temperatures are varying much more over the course of the year, but they also come from some thousand kilometers south of the equatorial region at places with more pronounced seasons.

 

[MacZ]

Update: Saw the Nannostomus spawn today... Not even a week in the tank. I seem to do something very right.

 

[MacZ]

Friend came over with a better camera than mine a few days ago. Here are some results.

 

[HookedOnFish_MI]

Beautiful tank!

 

[MacZ]

Some impressions of this month.

News: +++ added a couple of tiger lotus +++ water parameters are moving the right direction: pH 5.5 with botanicals and elder cone extract alone (in 95% RO) +++ frogbit rebounced +++ all plants flourishing +++ all fish healthy +++ pencilfish spawning daily +++

 

[rasmusW]

The tank is looking great. Looking forward to see the lotus with emersed leafs.

-r

 

[MacZ]

Thank you!

I hope the lotus does get there at all. Due to the fact I could only plant it where I planted it I can not use root tabs. The A. hongsloi has his cave right next to it and I don't want him to eventually excavate it. I sadly know what that can cause and I don't want that to happen again. It will have to do with liquid ferts in the water column.

It's in there for a bit over 2 weeks now and although two leaves show slight signs of melting overall it grows, both offshoots I got already grew another leaf and the existingt stem have slowly worked their way up.

 

[derekw]

Nice tank