Tank pics - Take a look

[chavez720]

Alright finally got the tanks back in balance after the Great Icestrom of 2002 in NC.

Take a look www.aquacharlotte.com (Gallery Paul Velasco(aka Chavez)

The tanks took a large toll - 2 discus - My prized Red/Turk - 6" and a Wild geen 6". Lost alot of apistos also - Althalupas, A. agassizzi triple red.

Back in balance now and have 4 Heckels ready for their new home in the 75 gal tank

[Ralph]

The picture 14 of 16 is beautiful, very natural looking. Was that a sand substrate? It looked like sand on something. How has it worked out for you.
Was that a botia with your wild green? Does it do OK with the temps. I'm thinking about getting some. It's a schooler, isn't it?

What is the story behind the website and club, you should post how it came about (maybe in the locator section) in case anyone else is thinking about doing something similar in their locale.
Sorry to hear about your fish, I remember reading about it at the time.

[dm]

Nice tanks. Very nice.
Ralph that is a Botia. A Yoyo or Pakastani loach. I have a few in my planted tank. They seem to do fine but may be a bit energetic for Discus. They don't eat much algae but they are relentless in cleaning the bottom of the tank. Looking back I think Clowns would have been a better choice for me.

[ChloroPhil]

Yo Yos aren't algae eaters, they do a number on any snails and leftovers in the tank though.

[thebaglady]

You have a nice site and you're doing something nice for your LFSs and fellow fishkeepers in your area. Keep up the great work.

I would also like you to post more about the icestorm. How long was your power out?

Ours was out for four days once and it was difficult, but there were unseen benefits because I kept fish. Having a well, when the power goes out, the pump stops working so we had no water. We brought up water from the tanks to flush the toilets and used water from storage barrels to cook with! Thank goodness we have propane because that allowed us to cook.

The tanks were dark and the room the fish are housed in is part of the basement where it's windowless. The worst part of the whole deal was having my fish get so spooked, they were jumping madly, hittting their heads on the top of the tanks. I was trying to keep their filters going (biologically) by switching some battery driven bait bubbler
pumps from tank to tank via airline tubes. It was insane, but the sponge filters did OK and the power filters and UG filters with power heads probably did not fare as well.

All in all, I lost only two fish which was not too bad. My fridge and freezer, I lost a LOT. Everyones' power was out and some people didn't have it for seven days! So we were actually lucky. They said generator sales skyrocketed and then you couldn't find one if you had paid a million bucks! I hope I never have to live through it twice in one lifetime but I now have a different appreciation for storms.

[ChloroPhil]

That sounds exactly like what happened to Charlotte and the rest of NC.

[Ralph]

Jen, was your blackout during the winter? The one in the Carolinas was in December I think.
What did you do for heat?

[thebaglady]

No. It was in the heat of summer. The storm was actually a tornado or straight line winds, maybe both. Lines were down everywhere in our area. Many large trees were lost.

A lot of people up here in Minnesota have wood burning stoves to supplement their furnaces. Needless to say, after that storm, there was no shortage of wood! :-\

[Wahter]

Paul, that ludwigia arcuata looks familiar! But where's the red micro echinodorus tenellus? ;D ;D ;D

Nice pics. I'm still waiting for some pics to add to our site.

http://www.fishclubs.com/nc/cape/

Good to meet you at the RAS auction - hope your purchases do well. (I've not received my check yet though for the items I sold).

Walter

[chavez720]

Thanks for the compliments. It took a few months after the ice-storm to get to this point so I am happy. Have about 4 wild heckels in quarantine that I will put in the tank.

Was that a botia with your wild green?

Yes - They said it is a YO YO (Pakistani) Locah. It looks more like Botia striata - tiger loach. We will see when they get bigger - right now they are only 2" SL

Does it do OK with the temps. I'm thinking about getting some. It's a schooler, isn't it?

Yes, but remember I keep my tanks a bit on the cool side - 80-82°F. I find this is a nice balance between the plants and Discus. Any higher the botias would probably suffer. I have a school of about 4 in there - they always swim together. The reason I got these guys were for there beauty and snail eating ability. I was plagued with pond snails for awhile.

Clown loaches are great for a couple of years. Gave mine away a few months back as the largest was 6-8" SL. When they get bigger they are voracious eaters and actually began to chase away the discus during feeding time. They also had a tendency to uproot things in the tank. The Yo Yo's should only get about 4" max and they seem much less aggresive than the Clowns.

Was that a sand substrate? It looked like sand on something. How has it worked out for you.

Yes it is sand on top! It first started out as a four layer substrate. Bottom layer was soil - red NC clay. If you ever have been down south you know what I am talking about. This was amended with ground peat and vermiculite (mistake). Second layer was just peat. Third layer was flourite. Next was gravel mixed with black sand an Pool sand. The substrate is extermely rich and has been the best I have ever made. Will skip the vermiculite next time as when things are moved around the stuff get out and it looks like gold dust has been scattered in the tank. As the tank aged the layers were mixed and now it is just a single layer capped with sand.

In my experience sand is the best! It firmly holds every plant. The small foreground plants would have never worked in a larger size gravel. It also has a tendency to hold everything on top - so gravel cleaning is a breeze. Would never start another tank without using sand as a substrate.

Will try and post my experiences with the Icestorm, the website, and club

Walter - Could not bid on the narrow leaf Java Fern - maybe next time. You can use any of the pics for the CAPE site. I will try and get some better quality shots.

Paul

[chavez720]

wahter - The tennellus is in the 75 gal. For some reason the red did not show up well in the pics. Like I said as the plant ages it's outer leaves turn red. I pruned a bunch of it and put the older ones in the 2 twenties and 2 tens. These have almost turned a blood red!

Yeah that is your arcuata! Has turned a bit orange in the last few weeks. What ferts have you been adding to get it red?

How is the macrandra expiriment doing? red yet?

[Ralph]

Thanks, Paul, for the detailed answers. I am also sold on sand as a substrate or substrate cover, the right kind of sand that is. And it looks good too.
Can't wait to see photos of the tank with Heckels in it.

[thebaglady]

Narrow leaf java fern....is that Windelov or something else?

[chavez720]

No not windelov a different sp, I have never seen it before until Wahter show it to me at the auction. Looks like blades of grass. I will let Wahter tell you about it.

[ChloroPhil]

Walter,

Who do I send pics to for the CAPE site?