building a "big" Potamotrygon/SA Catfishes tank

[djtonyel]

You are the man

[jay_leask]

that is simply AMAZING! a real dream tank.

[ElTofi]

thanks, it's really appreciated !

[ElTofi]

new pictures of the tank under 280W LED Cree Spots... alltogether, it's 28'000 lumens, 6500 kelvin... and considering shooting pictures, it's a great achievement... especially with Arowana's

As I shot in Big Format, I'm unable to reduce my picture for the forum... so, follow me there...

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 586&type=1

[ElTofi]

I'll post new decent sized pictures tonight... but the result is great... believe me

[ElTofi]

feeding the kelberis and silver arowanas (September 4th 2012)

[Viktor Jarikov]

Cool. Are those pbass? How come they are not snatching what aros are eating? And what are the two types of the foods you are throwing in?

[ElTofi]

1. arowanas are at least as quick as them...
2. once the peacock bass are "full mouthed", the arows can eat
3. I give enough of dry pellets (Hikari carnivore sinking and Cichlids bio gold) and deep frozen shrimps to satisfy everyone...

I have another short vid that I'll post tomorrow...

we are tomorrow

a short view of my biggest Cichla kelberi, slowly turning to his adult coloration... more and more yellow sun spots in the fins, more and more massive body and more and more appetite...

[Viktor Jarikov]

C'est magnifique! Excellent reply, thanks. I didn't realize you'd have pbass in your dream tank. So, you will have no fish in the tank that will fit into their huge mouths when they are adults?? I thought you have a ton of small(ish) fish.

[ElTofi]

C'est magnifique! Excellent reply, thanks. I didn't realize you'd have pbass in your dream tank. So, you will have no fish in the tank that will fit into their huge mouths when they are adults?? I thought you have a ton of small(ish) fish.

I did have a ton of small(ish) fishes in my tank... and they were meant to be eaten within the first months...

I love the french citation "c'est magnifique" thanks for it !

I give a complement of answer : the Cichlas kelberi are among the smallest of the genus, together with C. occelaris, C. melaniae, C. piqiti and so on... nothing to compare with C. temensis or C. orinocensis, who may be the biggest cichlids of the world (fighting for the title with Boulengerochromis from African Rifts Lakes)

So, with my population (hereunder, for information), I think there is no reasonnable risk for any of my fishes...

15 Myleus schomburgkii (around 15 cm TL yet, probably +20 cm TL when adult)
4 Osteoglossum bicirrhosum (around 35-50 cm TL yet, probably + 110 cm when adult)
6 Panaque L191 (around 20-25 cm TL yet, probably +50 when adult)
4 Panaque schaeferi (around 15-20 cm TL yet, probably + 50 when adult)
1 Acanthicus hystrix (around 30 cm TL yet...)
2 Astonotus occellaris (around 25 cm TL yet)
2 Pterygoplychthys spp (pardalis + gibbiceps) : + 35 cm yet
3 Potamotrygon leopoldi (2 F around 20 cm disk and 1 M 30 cm disk yet, probably +50 disk when adult)

the Chromobotia (WTF are they doing in there ) are indeed smaller... but I'm sure they don't risk anything... as Cichlas and Arows already tried that... and discover it was quite a bad idea...

the rest is indeed meant to be eaten (1 x Thorichthys aureus, 2 x Aulanocara, 5-6 Ancistrus Paraguay)

I'm unable to remember if there is something else in this tank... I don't think so...

[Viktor Jarikov]

Ha! Looks like you know what you are doing Kidding, I never doubted that.

I thought I heard you speaking French.

How did Chromobotia fend off the predators?

[ElTofi]

Ha! Looks like you know what you are doing Kidding, I never doubted that.

I thought I heard you speaking French.

How did Chromobotia fend off the predators?

I speak French, yes

and for your question, just look at this (from the Net) picture :



a spine, right under the eyes, cutting like a sharp knife, permitts the loaches to avoid predators... they try, until they discover there are many other easier preys in the tank...

[kawa85]

Compliments Eltofi, the tank is spectacular

[ElTofi]

agreed ... thank you !

that was part of the purpose... anyway, the best way to realize is a local visit... as I haven't found a way to take good vid's or picture of the whole... I'd love to have a fish eye or a wide angle shooter.

[ElTofi]

not as good as diving in Xingu post... but still... not that bad...

into my big tank :

2nd vid uploading...

[ElTofi]

second video...

tomorrow, 2nd shooting session, with more light and wide angle settings

[rob rensen]

Very nice.......tres magnifique

[ElTofi]

it' been a while since I last posted pictures on this topic...

EDIT : and I just remembered why my pictures are too big...

this week-end, I had the luck to capture (by chance you can't imagine how quick a panaque can be) a mid-sized panaque and to transfer it into my altum tank for a few days...

...2 too big pictures...

and let me show you a few other pictures, from late October, of the "jungle" above the tank...

...4 too big pictures...

I noticed yesterday that my 3 Vandas(orchids) are doing well, with new flower stems... the Phalenopsis (hybrid)are doing well too... I'll soon have a jungle full of orchid flowers. I'll leave pictures as soon as the flowers will bloom...

EDIT : I'll take new "smaller" pictures to share with you on this topic... sorry for the teaser without pictures...

[Viktor Jarikov]

Why don't you just resize them? For on-screen viewing, even 75 dpi is good, believe it or not. An average 8 cm x 12 cm photo should not take more than 100 KB or so.

[2wheelsx2]

If you use a hosting service like photobucket, Picasa, flickr, etc., it automatically resizes for you and you just post up the image tags.

[ElTofi]

I usually post the picture tags from my facebook albums... where they are stocked safely for long... but I'll try the hosting solution these next days... finding a fishhobbyist moment is quite a challenge these last months... ask my 9 months old son why...

[Thomas W]

What a beautiful tank. I also plan to build a similar tank, maybe a Xingu Biotop.
This is truly a good inspiration ElTofi

[ElTofi]

I try another way, from AquAgora gallery...

let's see what I can share with you...

One of my panaque L191, captured sleeping on a zuchinni last week... it spent a few days into the 720, just to shoot decent pictures... 24 cm TL... and it's not the biggest... this little guy was only 7 cm in December 2010...



good, it works... picture directly at the right size, from the origin site... I'll keep it posting next days with this way...

[2wheelsx2]

That's a beautiful specimen.

[ElTofi]

a few more pictures of the "jungle" above it :

[Viktor Jarikov]

Amazing stuff, Eltofi.

Are the half-sphere baskets, housing some plants and touching water, made of a metal? If yes, are you not afraid of contaminating the water?

[nvcichlids]

beautiful as always. That tank could easily house archers and look amazing, to bad they aren't from the amazon.

Any new stock in the pond?

[ElTofi]

Amazing stuff, Eltofi.

Are the half-sphere baskets, housing some plants and touching water, made of a metal? If yes, are you not afraid of contaminating the water?

yes, but I must admitt I didn't think of that too much as it's only 3-4 cm deep of steel covered with an anti-rost coating touching the water. Moreover, I change 350 liters a day (by the ceiling tube) and vacuum 800 liters every 2-3 days from the bottom by backwash from the sand filter...

nevertheless, it could be a point. I'll think about it... if you have any ideas or feed-back, they'll be welcome.

Nothing new into the pond for the next months... no time, no money, no energy... but I'll take another chance with a female leopoldi this next spring... as you may know, I lost my two little girls in two days , caused by a bacterian massive attack... the time for me to diagnose and it was too late...

From that time, my male do feel alone...

[Viktor Jarikov]

nevertheless, it could be a point. I'll think about it... if you have any ideas or feed-back, they'll be welcome.

If the coating is plastic and is strong, thick, scratch-free, and rust-free at the moment, I'd not worry too much but would have to keep at eye at any evidence of rust. I don't know the toxic concentration of iron (Fe++ and Fe+++) in the water... but from the little experience that I have, without firm evidence though, I have a feeling that even relatively small iron objects, like pieces of wire, can spoil water in small tanks and sicken fish or weaken their immune system. Again, this needs lots more research on-line and talking to the right people to understand the quantitative aspect of this.

Ideal would be, of course, plastic... or stainless steel as fish tanks are made of it too. My current belief is aluminum, copper could cause problems too.

[ElTofi]

I'm pretty sure that the metal is stainless steel... plus the coating...

but anyway, you made me doubt... and as I now have a "drop-fill-in" system which covers the half-sphere baskets, I will simply lift up the baskets of 4-5 cm to avoid their bottom to touch the water...

thanks for helping, that surely was a good point.