Been a while, first tank in multiple years

[Kirbs]

Very nice!

[Discus-n00b]

Thanks!

You got talent!! What ferts are you using??

I don't do anything crazy to be honest, have Flourish Tabs under the substrate and dose with Easy Green in the recommended dose. High light, pressurized CO2 and just letting it grow really. I wanted a more natural look so I'm not necessarily trying to trim up everything perfectly. I do need to work on that left corner foreground a bit, and as much as I try to keep the black substrate off the sand, the cories just spread it all over.

[Disgirl]

Your tank is beautiful Matt!

[Discus-n00b]

Your tank is beautiful Matt!

Thanks!

Not the greatest photo, just a quick Iphone snap, but the Bucephalandra has been sprouting flowers constantly. It's been doing great lately. All the plants except some of the foreground stuff in one corner is doing well, I just can't seem to light that corner very well. Some of the root systems on the anubias are insane as they stretch off the wood towards the substrate. It's exactly the effect I wanted. I'll get a new full tank shot soon. Also seen, blurry, as he chases a female is my dominant male Koi Snake Swordtail in the tank. You can see the female's belly filled with eggs in the same shot.

[RogueDiscus]

Nice to hear from you, Matt. Beautiful tank. Worth what I am sure is a lot of effort and TLC. I used to breed Pearl Gouramis and I've never seen one that comes close to mine. Wish I could find some. The number of folks here also working with rams supports the idea that discus are not the end of the line. And then there's plants ...

[Discus-n00b]

Nice to hear from you, Matt. Beautiful tank. Worth what I am sure is a lot of effort and TLC. I used to breed Pearl Gouramis and I've never seen one that comes close to mine. Wish I could find some. The number of folks here also working with rams supports the idea that discus are not the end of the line. And then there's plants ...

Thanks! Discus have a special place in my heart but I can honestly say, these "basic" fish you'd find in most normal fish shops have really invigorated my love for the hobby again. I came back and wanted something super simple fish wise. Something I could just do some simple breeding with, maybe work with some of the koi swordtails I have to see what I can do with the lines, don't have to necessarily stress about water changes and what not. It's really been fun falling in love with the hobby again.

[Discus-n00b]

A little update. Battling some green algae issues now, I think some waste is just getting trapped that I can't really reach on water changes. The stem plants in the back seem to get the brunt of the algae growing on them and they just don't seem to be doing as well recently so something is off somewhere. On the flip side, the Java Ferns, Anubias, and Buce plants are all growing like crazy so i am not too terribly concerned as I really like those. Been getting multiple Anubias and Buce clippings lately. Might replace the stems in the back, not sure with what yet. I never knew how much the cories and snails move the substrate around, but as you can see the sand is almost covered by black now and same on the left side they just track it all through the foreground.

Fish wise, I have 2 older fry from the swordtails that appear like they may turn out to be females which is great because I have an excess of males currently. I separated some females into my small shrimp tank hoping they would drop some more fry outside of the main tank and I could grow them to the point of being able to sex them early and keep some virgin females separate. They dropped some fry, at least 15 I could see, and moved the large females back into the main tank. Even with all of the plant cover I think between all of the males, the rainbows, and seeing the large females eat the babies before they just don't survive long in there. Going to grow this batch some and see what I have. Looks like a mix between the black tailed koi, koi snakes, and some that seem to be more orange and have less black on them at all. Don't really have a true end goal with breeding, just want to see what I can get.

So if anyone is going to be looking for some koi/koi snake swordtails, anubias, or some bucephalandra coming up anytime soon I may be able to help. Here is a current dirty FTS