23 replies to this topic

[japes]

Hey guys,

Handful of shots I've taken over the last month and a bit of my Eartheaters. Canon EOS400D, 50MM F1.8 and Canon 24-70MM F2.8, tank lighting only.

I'll sort them by tanks:

140G Rio Essequibo, Guyana Biotope

9x Satanoperca leucosticta
20x Hyphessobrycon rosaceus "Rosy Tetra"
28x Hemigrammus erythrozonus "Glowlight Tetra"
7x Corydoras panda (WTB Corydoras melanistius)









Dominant male (sexually mature, 15.5cm TL)







Flirting between a sub-dominant male (or possibly female) and breeding female, while the male was holding.


75G Rio Tapajos/Rio Amazonas Biotope

6x Geophagus sp. "Araguaia Orange Head" (3M 3F)
42x Hyphessobrycon pulchripinnis "Lemon Tetra"
8x Nannostomus beckfordi "Golden Pencilfish"
8x Corydoras julii
5x Otocinclus hoppei









Male from the primary breeding pair.





Second, although probably dominant male, has quite the temper and likes beating up women.

Anyway, I'll save you all some bandwidth and stop there, thanks for looking.

[dazzabozza]

Luv the full-tank shots. Thanks for sharing!

[MONSTAF1SH]

Love all the shots!
Nice tanks!

[Jaraqui]

I really like these tanks; a nice, clean design. What sort of lights are on the tanks? How do you control algal growth?

[japes]

Thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated.

I really like these tanks; a nice, clean design. What sort of lights are on the tanks? How do you control algal growth?

2x54W T5HO 4' setups on each tank. Have a 4x54W setup on the Essequibo tank but never run all 4 lights.

Algae is controlled with multiple algae scrubbers (and somewhat by Otocinclus in one of the tanks)

[topline]

Very nice pics. I'm impressed with the camera's auto white balance and the fact that very little noise is present. Well done. Its not easy to gt such excellent shots with only the tank lights!!

[Den]

Nice fish and tanks, those leucos look alot like mine, I would not be surprised if they are of the same ancestry, mine came from QLD. I have 10 of them in a 10foot tank and Im currently raising spawns from 2 different pairs.

If I can make one comment, ever thought about getting the heaters out of the tank and using inline heaters?

Cheers
Den

[japes]

Hey Den,

S. leucosticta are from Mark (mrfish1) who's from Northern NSW, but supplied a few people in Brisbane as far as I remember. Haven't considered inline heating yet as I plan to pull down and rebuild both setups almost entirely from scratch (new tanks, lighting, plumbing, etc.)

[Den]

I got mine from Cheongy(Ozarowana), who I think got them from NSW for me, so it might be the same guy.

There was one guy who was breeding deformed ones in NSW(I can confirm it was not Mark), many of the fry were brought to WA and sold to unsuspecting LFStores and hobbiests by a local fish trader here late in 2008, i did put some warnings out. This breeder also tried to sell me some fry but when I politely questioned some faults that appeared in the photos which he sent me of his breeding adults(short bodies, deformed shaped mouths and snouts), he got very aggressive and abussive and argued that they were top quality fish even after I sent him photos of what the fish should look like. Shortly after this episode I found out he sold these same adults at a top $$ price to someone on this forum, who later confirmed to me that they were badly deformed fish which had to be euthanised, unfortunately I did not get the chance to warn this person.

Anyway how are your cories going? I found mine are not doing too well as they cant seem to get enough food, my Leucos and tetras are too fast for them, most of my food never gets to the bottom of the tank.

Ill put some new pics up of my SA tanks in a few weeks after I move them to my new fish room.

Cheers
Den

[japes]

Same supplier, I originally only got 3 off Chuong, then sourced them through Mark for the following 6 to expand the colony and grow them out. Best quality S. leucosticta I've seen in the country to be honest, because there's a LOT of deformed specimens getting around, generally caudal and mouth shape issues.

My Corydoras are doing quite well, but I tend to crush food every second meal in a mortar and pestle. Corydoras and Eartheaters mean there's no uneaten food. The Eartheaters will spend their time grabbing all of the 1mm NLS, while the Tetra go after a crushed mix of NLS H2O Stable Wafers/Hikari Micro-Pellets/Hikari Cichlid Excel/Tetra Colorbits that I've got in an old NLS container, any that gets to the bottom is dealt with by both the Corydoras and the Eartheaters. Fantastic to watch but you just need to be conscious not to overfeed.

[Donna]

Nice pics. The 400D is a great camera, I owned one for some time. Also had the 50mm prime lens f1.8. It is a very quick lens and I have sung its praises on this forum before. I now have the f1.4 which is even quicker due to the former being stolen.
I also like the simplicity of your tank layouts.

Thanks for sharing,

Regards,

Donna

[Den]

Thanks for the info, but I think that my major problem is the cories are just too intimidated by the large cichlids, even though they are not aggressive, I think the key next time is to introduce the cichlids when they are small and as they grow the cories get accustomed to the larger fish over time and dont fear them.

PS My Leucos just spawned again today, this is the forth spawn in about a month, the alpha male is mating with each female as they become ripe, the barstard has a harem going, lucky bugger.

Cheers
Den

[japes]

A photograph I quite liked from yesterday, a couple of days after introducing some Terminalia catappa leaves.

Thanks for the info, but I think that my major problem is the cories are just too intimidated by the large cichlids, even though they are not aggressive, I think the key next time is to introduce the cichlids when they are small and as they grow the cories get accustomed to the larger fish over time and dont fear them.

PS My Leucos just spawned again today, this is the forth spawn in about a month, the alpha male is mating with each female as they become ripe, the barstard has a harem going, lucky bugger.

Cheers
Den

Very nice with the leucosticta, the majority of my colony is about a month of reaching sexual maturity so it's just the single male and female at the moment. After introducing Tetra to my leucosticta setup I've noticed the panda Corydoras currently present in the tank became much less scarce and more personable with the Cichlids around, even though they've grown out together. The C. julii in the Orange Head setup have always been quite flighty with movement around the tank but during feeding time and for the majority of the day they aren't intimidated by any other fish.

[Den]

Very nice pic, you cant beat SA setups IMO, they are fantastic.

I have some shoals of tetra too, doesnt seem to help, my tetras stay in the darker corners and because the size of my tank the tetras and cories can go days without seeing each other, in fact they probably hardly ever notice or see each other. When I shift the tank into the new fish room I plan to rearrange and add more driftwood, I think the extra cover will help.

[jslayz]

Hi Japes

What kind of algae scrubber are you running?
If it is something that works, can you please perhaps start a thread in 'Technical' and show us?

Great tanks, fantastic shots too!

Any chance of some youtube links of video of these?
That would be really appreciated.

Thanks for sharing.

J

[Sarg]

I'd doubt he'd put it up himself but he has won the best tank award for december? 2009 on the moster fish keepers forum if anyones a member there. i'm not otherwise i'd put up a link

[japes]

Hi Japes

What kind of algae scrubber are you running?
If it is something that works, can you please perhaps start a thread in 'Technical' and show us?

Great tanks, fantastic shots too!

Any chance of some youtube links of video of these?
That would be really appreciated.

Thanks for sharing.

J

Hi J,

I use a standard Marina scrubber, basically the usual algae scrubbers you can find around the place, but I've recently found the stainless steal scrapers to be fantastic, and currently use an AquaOne 3 in 1 Scrubber as it also comes with a rake/shovel attachment which is fantastic for moving and aerating sand.

Some outdated videos, planning to borrow a digital video camera as the video on my Fuji P&S has the contrast blown out by sand.

140:


75:

(Mind the algae on the back, love stainless scrapers )

I'd doubt he'd put it up himself but he has won the best tank award for 2009 on the moster fish keepers forum if anyones a member there. i'm not otherwise i'd put up a link

Here I am trying to be humble :/

Cheers,
japes

[jslayz]

Thanks for the vids! Most appreciated.
Congrats on MFK win, well done as plenty of entries submitted for those comps.
I had a pic put in the photo of the month in November and although I didn't win, I was glad to get selected for the comp.

I thought you meant an algae scrubber with perspex and a floodlight which reduces ammonia, nitrate & nitrate like these ones here:

http://www.algaescrubber.net/forums/

Keep up the good work, you have motivated me to get some vids of my umbees!

j

[japes]

Hey guys,

Here are those up to date videos I promised, with a few new photos as well.





Please watch in HQ, it's not fantastic quality but it will help.







.. S. leucosticta preparing to spawn.





.. and some tannins in the Tapajos tank.







Cheers.

[dazzabozza]

Gday Japes

Can u explain your filter setup? In particular what's in the top left and right of this pic.

Daz