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Plants in a Tropheus Tank


waruna

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This story began three years ago when i decided to setup a planted tank. I'll try and tell this story with pictures (as many as i can) so it is a lot more interesting. A full year went in to planning and buying everything i wanted. The tank has been running now for two years.

At the time i wanted to have a go at a high tech planted Wild Discus tank, so all the research and planning was done with this in mind.. The tank is 1800 x 700W x 800H = 1000L

My First attempt at plumbing, so it was quite slow :)

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Wood and water added, very happy day!

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I was very impatient, not long after i added 12 Wild Tefe Greens

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A few weeks after more plants and a carpet of Glossostigma elantinoides planted.

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Few Months later the end product

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What keeps everything alive :wink2:

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Few months later i found the Discus to be a little boring, so i looked at other species of fish i could keep instead of Discus..

While searching the net (on Barrreport) i saw this tank:

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I was hooked!! I somehow convinced myself to risk and put a colony of F2 Katoto in to my tank.. It may also have had something to do with the breeder i had visited the same week who had 7 colonies of Ts. :unsure

So few things had to change.. Discus sold, and a more suitable substrate added for Ts. I also added more circulation plus an air stone during night time.. (note the length of the narrow leaf java on the top right)

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14 F2 Katoto in.. No disruption to Co2 injection. Co2 is injected an hour prior to light units are turned on, this way Co2 levels are at the targeted range and no time for Algae to compete with plants. Starting PH is 7.6. Co2 level is maintained between 6.5-6.6 during Photo period (photosynthesis).

Those who are concerned about the PH levels please read below:

The daily pH cycle that happens as plants respire and photosynthesize, and as you add CO2, perhaps turn it off at night and so on... causes no problems for the fish.

You are not altering the mineral level (GH, KH or TDS) when you add carbon dioxide.

In planted aquariums it is very common for the pH to swing up and down over about 1 full digit. For example, in a soft water tank (GH and KH under 5 degrees, perhaps as low as 2-3 degrees and TDS under 300ppm, perhaps in the 100s) the pH might be as low as 6.0 when the CO2 is on, but the plants have not yet increased their metabolism to match. Then the pH may reach 7.0 in the middle of the afternoon, when the plants are removing every bit of carbon dioxide they can find.

In a hard water tank (GH and KH over 10 degrees, perhaps as high as 20, and TDS might approach 1000ppm) the KH will be a better buffer, and the daily change in pH may not be quite so much.

Either way, the fish are not bothered by the change in pH that happens when CO2 is added to the tank.

The fish may have problems when you add too much of various mineral, acid or salt products that alter pH, but this is more of the TDS issue, not the pH itself.

Link to the thread:

http://www.aquaticpl...rmful-fish.html

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For six weeks i was glued to the tank!! Ts. are much more exciting than the Discus, sorry to all the Discus owners but its the truth. As you can see from the Pic below plants were growing at a phenomenal rate! Ts. seemed to handle Co2 levels a lot better than Wild Discus, so over a period of a few weeks i decreased the PH level even further, to 6.45. No signs of distress. At the time of adding Ts. i had an issue with Cladophora algae, which i had from day one of setting up this tank. Ts. absolutely loved eating this algae, it was very obvious, and Within a month i couldn't see a single strand left in the tank!

Its a bit hard to see them on the picture below as they were always swimming in and out of the woods :yes:

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After a couple of months or so the next step was to find some wild Katoto, thanks to a local breeder (who made the introduction) i managed to get 10 wilds through Grant Parkes. Before adding the Wilds i reduced the Co2 level back to 6.6, and over a period of a week i dropped it down to where it was, 6.45. To this date no losses.

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Plants have completely out grown the tank and not much light is penetrating to the bottom.

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Here's a small video of the plants pearling while Ts. are feeding (sorry about the quality):

Wilds spawning for the first time:

Now i have six juvies from the wilds, couldn't have asked for a better out come. I also have another female holding, hopefully she will hold the full term.

Two weeks ago i decided to change things a little, i want the tank and the conditions to be a lot more favorable for the Ts. So all the wood and the plants attached to them are out now. My next layout will incorporate Texas Holey Rocks. Apart from the plants on the ground everything is gone now, and this is why i can count the exact number of fry in the tank. Adding Texas rocks will alter the PH considerably so i am going to take my time adding the rocks..

I hope my journal will encourage some members here to incorporate plants in their Cichlid tanks. It is definitely a considerable challenge but i can't wait to start the new layout in the next few weeks.

Thanks for reading.

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I was only allowed to post two vids, so here's the rest of the story :)

Wild female Holding:

Fry out for the first time:

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WOW, this is epic, who wouldve thought that tropheus would go well in planted tanks? sure doesnt look natural, as the discus setup did but still looks amazing. Man with your aquascaping skills, you couldve made an epic tropheus tank with just sand and rock, and have 2 amazing displays (at least?) lol

Cheers for posting, what a journey!

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Lovely looking tank and a very fancy plumbing setup so well done Waruna. I have kept trophs in the past and they great fish to keep. but too demanding.for me. I loved your discus tank setup but you are right they are a pretty serine fish, especially compared to trophs :lol2:

If I read this correctly you are keeping WC trophs at a pH of 6.45 is that correct? If so you are far gamer than me. Be cautious of bloat and dropsy with the levels that low.

it is looking good howwever

cheers

rosco

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Wow Waruna! That's amazing, glad your in the hobby, I can see the passion you show for it! I have a small planted nano, always wanted one ;) nothing compared to your slice of beauty though! thanks for sharing mate.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Nice Waruna - you certainly had a huge head of plants in there. Every one of the tanks reincarnations were worth keeping. You need more tanks so you can keep each success going. The wood pieces when visible were great too.

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  • 1 month later...

Sorry for being slack with replying.

Thanks for the feed back guys, much appreciated!

Craig, one tank is definitely not enough! But space and time to look after them is the issue mate:-)

This is the new Look, very dark and gloomy..! After adding the Texas i had a PH crash, which was expected.. Things are settling slowly, I'm going to add some more Crypts very soon.. Apart from decreasing the fert dosing i've left everything as it was.. Co2 injection hasn't changed. the biggest challenge was to hide the plumbing!!

I've got about 15 young in the tank, the past two months i've had at least one female holding everyday, once there were three! All three carried the full term. There are two dom males on each side now, lots of entertainment!!

GDA (Green dust algae) was out of control straight after adding the Texas, on rocks and the glass. Now i'm cleaning the glass less and less, it's settling slowly.

I'm thinking about adding a couple of giant swords at the back to get more depth, any thoughts?

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  • 1 month later...

Just read through your post! Very interesting story! Thanks for sharing :)

Those rocks are like a blank canvas! I reckon swords at the back would look good, and perhaps some creeping mossy type plant to give the rocks some green. Along with a smaller ferns among on the faces of the rock. I agree with CThompson - The wood looked great when visible. I think brown drift wood would be right at home in the tint of your tank, perhaps another long spindly piece that doesn't take too much space or crowd the tank but joins the left and right rocks.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for the feedback ukelayottscay and likoma.

Moss wouldn't have a chance with Trophs, anything stringy is a toy for them to play with! The days that i fast them i see an increase in ripped leave tips..

I added a few swords towards the back but they are struggling to compete with the balansae.. I came across some nice Bolbitis and placed them towards the back.. They are pretty similar to java but need very good Co2 levels, decided to give them a try since ive had Java before..

Plants are doing well, they've adapted to the hard water, can clearly see them pearl in the middle of the tank. This is the tank now, a bit dark and gloomy, my aim is to have a dark-ish forrest!

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Thanks Sloory.

Ukelayottscay, pearling simply means photosynthesis.. Plants release O2 bubbles during light hours.. Co2 is not that expensive, about $70 for 10kg bottle, replacing every two months or so.. Ferts are cheap too, i don't use much on this setup. Thanks for your feed back.

Two better pics of the tank showing the Ts....

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  • 2 months later...

Awesome tank! :) Just wondering, where they Neon Tetra's in some of the photos? if not, what are those neon/reflective/colourful tiny little fish? They look good in a school!

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