Rio 400 renovation

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daspricey
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Rio 400 renovation

Post by daspricey » Sat Sep 06, 2008 3:25 pm

About a week ago i completely re-did my rio 400. I wasn't happy with the look, green algae completely thrived and the sand got into the wood making it look bad and i noticed it actually started clumping in some places. So i spent over £150 on some new aquarium sand, fake plants, wood, many many pebbles and cobbles, and piping and power heads for the river flow manifold. It's now looking good i think. Henry (A male geophagus brasiliensis) loves the extra flow, so do the loaches!

I've taken the internal background out for the time being - Henry has on a couple of occasions somehow got behind and knocked a couple of scales of him so it's out for now.

This is what it looked like when i first set the tank up over a year ago,

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Then about 6-7 months ago, the plants were doing very well at this point BUT Henry started tearing the hornwort to shreds - same for the vallis and java fern. Most of the java moss has just disappeared. I've saved the java fern & moss and hornwort.

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From that pic you can see the HUGE java fern plant, the moss was running riot, the vallis (Bottom right) was doing good and the hornwort picking up, before Henry used it as his new chewing toy it just spread like wildfire - i've never known anything like it!

Right this is what the tank looked like a couple of days ago,

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Left,

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Right,

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The powerheads are cover on the right by bogwood but i need to sort those left pipes out on the left.

Now the fish in there,

Henry,

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Note the blue in the first pic, his colour looks excellent in the daytime (The daylight).

Yasuhikotakia nigrolineata - black lined loach or false chain loach - thought rarer (And more expensive!) than the rare dwarf chain loach. Oh and they should grow to 4", not quite dwarf!

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^ They are hard to get pics of - very fast active fish! And one of my favourites.

Other fish include Melanotaenia australis, Sinibotia pulchra and Devario sp giraffe.

I should also be adding when Henry moves into a rio 180, my Weather loach (along with some more), danio roseus, "panther" danios, garra cambodgiensis and some acanthocobitis zonalternans (after i've bred them) from a smaller tank upstairs. But also some more garra sp, danio sp and some more loaches!
:)

Thanks for reading and excuse the poor image quality. The camera is showing it's age!

David

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bic
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Post by bic » Sat Sep 06, 2008 4:22 pm

nice tank! Very pretty fish!
47gallons tank=>danio and loach
15gallon tank=>tetra and cory
5gallon tank=>betta

mickthefish
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Post by mickthefish » Sat Sep 06, 2008 4:31 pm

very good looking fish David have you ever thought about showing him, he, good enough.
tank looks great as well mate.

mick

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Emma Turner
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Post by Emma Turner » Sat Sep 06, 2008 8:26 pm

Looking good, David. 8) The powerheads are extremely well hidden!

Emma
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palaeodave
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Post by palaeodave » Sun Sep 07, 2008 6:40 pm

Will Henry be ok in a 180? Seems like a big chunky fish...

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Post by NancyD » Sun Sep 07, 2008 6:50 pm

Henry does seem a tankful! Beautiful nigros too, David.
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daspricey
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Post by daspricey » Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:56 am

Thanks everyone for the nice comments! :)
very good looking fish David have you ever thought about showing him, he, good enough.
That's made my day! :) :lol: I'm not sure i would, hes a bugger to catch and gets very stressed when i do try and catch him.
Will Henry be ok in a 180? Seems like a big chunky fish...
He was in the 180 for about 2 weeks. It looked ok for him. Though i will be on the look out for a 4ft or 5ft for him. I'm trying to not have to many tanks for now until next summer. I'm trying to concerntrate as much as possible in my GCSE's. (BTW i got An A* for chemistry, biology and physics! I'm still buzzing. :P )
Henry does seem a tankful! Beautiful nigros too, David.
Yeah he sure is a big fish, i can't see him growing any more though. He also enjoys boxing the plastic plants; the two plantso n the right have been heavily thinned out and there are loads of floating plant bits around! :lol:
I do love my Nigros and since the extra flow and without the internal background they have been very active. At least one is always out now! :D

mickthefish
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Post by mickthefish » Tue Sep 09, 2008 2:14 pm

believe me David fish like him are easy to catch, once you've netted him handball him into the show tank.
if you ever think of putting him on the table test him out in a small tank a few times before he's ready for up to an hour, just to see how he behaves.
if your lucky he may take to it with ease.
how big is he btw David.

mick

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Emma Turner
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Post by Emma Turner » Tue Sep 09, 2008 9:09 pm

daspricey wrote: (BTW i got An A* for chemistry, biology and physics! I'm still buzzing. :P )
Fantastic! :mrgreen: Congratulations! 8)
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helen nightingale
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Post by helen nightingale » Wed Sep 10, 2008 7:06 am

Congrautualtions on your exam results. well done, you must so pleased with yourself.

and your fish do look beautifull :D

Diana
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Post by Diana » Wed Sep 10, 2008 10:50 am

A larger tank would give you more room to put more toys for Henry. Cichlids in general are pretty smart fish, and giving them something to do can help. Some even play with ping pong balls!

Congrats on the exam results!
38 tanks, 2 ponds over 4000 liters of water to keep clean and fresh.

Happy fish keeping!

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daspricey
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Post by daspricey » Thu Sep 11, 2008 5:46 pm

mickthefish wrote:believe me David fish like him are easy to catch
Debatable! :lol: I found my sinibotia easier to catch!!!

once you've netted him handball him into the show tank.
if you ever think of putting him on the table test him out in a small tank a few times before he's ready for up to an hour, just to see how he behaves.
if your lucky he may take to it with ease.
how big is he btw David.
What size would a show tank be, Mick?

He is honestly scared of rulers. Put a camera, hands anything in front of him he wont move, but i put a 30cm rular to the glass and he shot of towards the back! haha

He's about 10" i would say though.
Fantastic! Mr. Green Congratulations! Cool
Congrautualtions on your exam results. well done, you must so pleased with yourself.
Congrats on the exam results!
Thanks. I've averaged out at a A* now so hopefully in the final exam i will keep it up, i'm also resitting the two A's i got in a previous exam. :mrgreen:

[/quote]

mickthefish
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Post by mickthefish » Thu Sep 11, 2008 6:15 pm

if the fish is 10 inch you would need a 24x12x12 or an 18x12x12 inch tank, not sure about the FBAS but the FNAS don't use a ruler anymore.
you'd be surprisedhow your fish will behave, at first he might be a bit nervous but if you your mam and dad walk up to the tank look at him they soon settle down.
i used to show a discus and it surprised my wife when the judge sat in front of the tank all it's fins flared to show herself off, but a fish in a way is like us, there was one judge who's sadly passed away that my fish must have hated with a venom if he judged her she sat on the base fins clamped and went dark.

mick

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Matt
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Post by Matt » Thu Sep 11, 2008 7:31 pm

Looking good David and that geo is a cracker! 8)

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