building a "big" Potamotrygon/SA Catfishes tank

[Cristoffer Forssander]

Good fishing trip then!

[andregurov]

Electroshock.

Just kidding. Your easiest approach is to catch them at night when they are unawares. You'll probably be able to catch them all in just a few wet minutes.

[ElTofi]

I'm not sure about "night fishing"

remember it's a special tank, with very wide dimensions : 540 x 160 x 130 cm

That means I'm unable to see the bottom of it when the light is off. That also means the goldies are on this bottom at night together with Myleus. And Chromobotias and Panaque are night active... so it's not "so quiet" at night... If I came with a net during the night, I guess the only response I'd have is full panic in a few seconds...

I'll go on with fishing... these next days... But thanks to all of you for your suggestions

[ElTofi]

Just to feed the topic...

I set up the reinforcement on the big glass, I changed a few things on "green wall" and I finally got the 4 left goldies (that was an heroic fantasy, unfortunately without any picts of it. But imagine a guy with fishermen boots, in a 60 cm high water level, with a huge flat net in a hand and a deep pike net in the other, just to catch 4 miserable goldies)

the result, still have to install a few epiphyts like orchids on the green wall... and to receive (next week), my 3 Osteoglossum and 1 Acanthicus adonis. Stingrays to come next spring

EDIT : pictures are too high... sorry...

Vids to follow, just the time to upload them on youtube

[ElTofi]

Cichla handfeeding, part II

an inside view

the Potamotrygon tank (without Potamotrygon yet) TOUR :

[nvcichlids]

those are awesome videos. I think it is neat seeing all of the cichla's in there.

[bigbird]

very impressed. lovely tank. cheers jk

[ElTofi]

I'm glad you appreciate it ! I do very much and spend most of my "home" time from last week-end in the fish-room

Next Tuesday, 3 Osteoglossum bicirrhosum (babies of 15cm) and 1 Acanthicus adonis (juvenile around 20 cm) will arrive into their new home... I'm really looking forward to introduce these newbies... especially the "Arowanas"...

I'll keep in touch with pics and videos

[ElTofi]

a few pictures of the day :






the whole tank...


and fishes...

[MatsP]

Looking great!

--
Mats

[arthos]

tiny tiny arowana's , luckely they grow fast.

I love ur set up, your vanda's will do great in those conditions. Are you giving them adapted light?


greetz

[ElTofi]

...your vanda's will do great in those conditions. Are you giving them adapted light?

probably not ! in fact, the 3 HQI spots are "marine" lights basically. Temp around 14'000 kelvin (on the SilverSun 2x150W) and 20'000 kelvin (on the 400W white spot). The bulbs were brand new 2 months ago, and from this time on, the Asplenium, the Spathyphyllum and even the Scindapsus seem to do well under this kind of light... I have another Orchid (Phaelenopsis ?) which do quite well from 2 months, and another (Phaelenopsis too) which had probably not enough light on the right edge of the tank. I moved this last one together with the Spathyphyllum a week ago and it seems to be better (new leave under development)

let's wait and see...

[ElTofi]

in the same arrival than the Arowanas, I received a 20 cm Acanthicus hystrix in quite poor conditions... torn caudal and dorsal fins, very thin (starving would be the right word), and, of course, drugged for the transport... It stayed a few hours at the same place and then disapeared somewhere in the tank... After 36 hours, I haven't seen it anymore...

For the moment, it has nothing to fear considering competition for food, as it's the only bottom protein feeder... But still... would you have any tips for me ?

I'll keep on looking for it these next days... I'll keep in touch

[Viktor Jarikov]

Awfully cute tank. With live orchids. One of a kind I've seen. Wow. A piece of Paradise somewhere in basement in Swiss Alps

How is the waterproofing holding up?

[ElTofi]

thanks a lot for your comments... and support during all this building adventure

the waterproofing is fine and efficient... from the moment I made the corrections with Isoltech, a professionnal in my area... it was September 1st and I had a doubt when filling it and heating it... there has been a point of "leakage" which turned out to be caused not by a leak, but by condensation...

from the moment the temperatures into the tank and into the bottom of the tank were equals, there hasn't been any more problem...

I just have to wait and see the plants and fishes grow up a little... and then, in Spring 2012, I'll finally get the stingrays... Of course, I'll keep in touch regularly with pics and vids...

[ElTofi]

Now that it's done, I'm glad to announce that I'd love to share it with any fishoolic who'd come in my area...

visitors from Planet Catfish are welcome ! -> PM

[ElTofi]

vids from tonight !

enjoy !

[matthewfaulkner]

Enjoy I shall! I love watching the videos. It'll only be 20 years before I can have something similar

[Sweety]

Enjoy I shall! I love watching the videos. It'll only be 20 years before I can have something similar

At least you have a time scale for such a big tank I've been told straight no way I think after all the hard work that has gone into this build it has payed off as I think it's stunning

[ElTofi]

Hi you all,

the Acanthicus hystrix is fine

I saw it yesterday, grabbing a Hikari algae wafer... From last Tuesday, I've been a bit worried, as it was very thin and had a "no so healthy" look at that time... But after a whole week without any sign of it, I could observe yesterday that it did well... it's very dark black, fins seem to be "repared" and it has a nice and healthy belly... not fat yet... but I guess that won't take too long for it

good news...

[ElTofi]

a short vid from this morning... enjoy !

[Linus_Cello]

Nice Vanda coerulea hybrid (Princess Mikasa?). Those can take a lot of light. Your Phaleanopsis and Spathylatum haven't burned from the lighting?
For a real Amazon biotope, maybe you can try some cattleyas, or better yet some phragmipediums as they can grow in water (though I'm guessing it may be too warm for the bessaes, and the water is not hard enough for kovachii).

[ElTofi]

Agreed, it's not, from a biologist point of view, a Amazonian biotope... especially considering plants... The Phaleanopsis and Spathylatum (and you can add the Asplenium) didn't do too well during the first weeks, when they were on the wall, and suffered from lack of water... Then, from mid-December, I set them into the hanging baskets, roots into the water, and the do much better from that moment on...

The Spathylatum (Spathyphyllum ?) is very healthy and thrives in this light shadow, on the right end of the tank... Several huge new leaves are emerging (1-2 per week), much higher than before... The Asplenium (left end of the tank) has 6 new leaves, growing slowly but surely... The Echinodorus spp (middle basket) were hesitating during a while, and a few "submerged" leaves went dead dry before it decided to adapt to his new "dry" environnement and to grow... I have a few very deep green new leaves... I'm afraid my water isn't "charged" enough to feed them properly actually... but I'm confident ! With the Cichla and Arowana (and the others) growing, they will soon be enough of nutriments in this water to help the plants to grow.

Yesterday, I added Salvinia natans, Azolla caroliniana and Limnobium on the surface... I'm not sure it will hold the Myleus appetite, but I have dozen of them in another tank... Let's wait and see !

Considering Vanda : as they are quite big (and long) on the structure, they have roots partially submerged (the 20cm lower part)... do you think it's a long term problem ? Somebody told me it will harm the roots, causing their death... I'm afraid I can't set them up differently, as I "only" have 110 cm high of "green wall". I've already set the Vanda's hook the highest point I could grab... but still... what's your opinion ?

[Linus_Cello]

Sorry, I don't know too much about growing vandas/ascocendas. I know they like a lot of light to do well. I think the ideal growing condition would be somewhere where water would splash on the roots occassionally; having the roots grow in the water may cause the roots to rot. I would contact someone in your local orchid society.

Again, another orchid you may want to consider are phragmipediums (which do grow in "wet feet").

[Lloydy]

Not sure about the choice of music but otherwise loved the video in your post on 30th December. Especially the two plecs (L191?) just after the 2min mark

Great tank!

Maybe one day I'll have a tank like this...

[ElTofi]

Sorry, I don't know too much about growing vandas/ascocendas... I would contact someone in your local orchid society.

Nice idea, I have two friends who are big "orchidists"... I'll see them this next spring, to show them my "green wall"... They will have plenty of advices and plants to give me...

Not sure about the choice of music but otherwise loved the video in your post on 30th December. Especially the two plecs (L191?) just after the 2min mark
Great tank!

Thanks for the comment ! The music is only for the "I have a dream" part... I was too lazy to look for an audio track of Martin Luther King "I had a dream" The Plecs are Panaque L191 indeed... they are 6 in this tank, growing surprisingly fast...

next week-end, a friend of mine will bring me young Panaque schaeferi She thought she could home them till she realized they were P. schaeferi and not P. bathyphilus . And, as she's a responsible fishhobbyist Angel, she offers them to me...

[ElTofi]

a very rich weekend, with friends and gifts... I recieved :

- 8 Orchids (Vandas, Phalaenopsis)
- 1 Eria javanensis
- 1 Anthurium (wild, from Colombia)
- a pair of Crenicichla regani Tapajos -> set them into the 720 liters in the living room, together with altums
- 4 Panaque schaeferi juveniles (around 13 cm) -> set the into the 10'000 liters of this topic...

Moreover, I booked 2 young females Potamotrygon leopoldi of about 15 cm... I'll get them in France in early March. I want to wait a bit before getting them for 2 reasons :

- my cichlas are still a bit small to take such a risk (only 12-13 cm) and still "sleep" on the bottom at night
- my wife is pregnant and the baby is supposed to show up on February 26th... I guess I'll have other things in mind till then...

Still looking for a decent size-quality-price male of Leo...

I'll keep in touch with pictures and vids asap...

[ElTofi]

3 vids, from this morning...

feeding arowanas

the 2 smallest, when resting...

and a funny mood of my Pleco pardalis... at first, I thought of an emergency case... and then, I realized it was just chewing... the scene last around 50 seconds... but I only shot the last 10...

[ElTofi]

update... my arowana's grow quite fast... a short "3 in 1" video, from late December till yesterday, to realize the growing rate

[ElTofi]

by the way, the Cichlas finally decided to come to frozen pangasius or shrimps... it wasn't that easy... from this moment on, they began to grow... not as fast as Arowana's, but quite impressive too...

and Panaque L191 are doing just great in this tank... the biggest is around +20 cm yet... Panaque schaeferi are more shy, and even if they are not starving (nice bellies), I'm not sure I found the right food for them... they love zuchini, but never saw them on Hikari chips, which is my main diet for vegetarian and wood eaters...

any idea to help ?