arcab4's 60 gallon planted tank adventure

arcab4

The Big Fish
The Big Fish
Oct 22, 2002
1,554
30
48
46
Sunny Southern California
#42
wow! been awhile.

quick update..taking a pic later tonight when the lights are on..

1. plants are doing so-so. some are dying and rotting away while others stay the same and some are growing.

2. started out with a few guppies has now turned into about 2 dozen or so guppies. the initial group is almost as big as adults. been seeing less and less of the smaller guppies...probably b/c the % of larger guppies now out number them.

3. totally kicking myself for not doing much snail extermination earlier..(oh how cool..2 snails!) has now turned into an infestation. but diligently thinning the herd.

4. cory cats all passed away from some reason. never had trouble keeping them alive but just not able to in this tank.

5. the pl*co is doing good. not much algae eating..maybe too dependent on the algae wafers now.

6. shrimps are still alive. i had one amano shrimp i believe...turned black. blending in with the driftwood. kinda crazy.
 

arcab4

The Big Fish
The Big Fish
Oct 22, 2002
1,554
30
48
46
Sunny Southern California
#45
time for another update..



so basically since the last time i took a picture, i've done nothing but..

1. feed everyday.
2. dose seachem flourish once a day
3. remove snails (omg..so many snails).

fish-wise...guppies have taken over the tank. but doesn't seem like all of them make it...i guess some get eaten now by the larger guppies. the initial batch of baby guppies are now the size of adults so now i can't tell which ones i've purchased. yea....alot of guppies. haha.

plant-wise...the val's have all melted away. the javamoss on the left side of the tank has tripled in size at least. the madagascar lace plant...lost all the leaves during one point...but now has come back strong with multiple large leaves. pretty awesome.

and the larger anubias on the driftwood in the middle just recently shot up a flower bud. never seen that before.

but otherwise than that...it's been low maintenance...
 

paperdog9

Large Fish
Dec 11, 2009
633
0
0
Your Imagination
#48
Wow! That looks exactly like these rubber model flowers I have seen around! Beautiful! Hope things keep going well! I love the tank, it reminds me of slightly overgrown ruins. Hope you have better luck with other plant species, that tank would look really cool with a bunch of plants everywhere! :)
 

arcab4

The Big Fish
The Big Fish
Oct 22, 2002
1,554
30
48
46
Sunny Southern California
#50
i guess it's time for an update. the tank was taken over by guppies. i think i started with a handful and there are dozens of them and they keep on coming. it's great i don't have to buy guppies ever again...but the amount of guppies were really starting to pollute the tank.

got a bad case of that long hair algae that gets everywhere. what fishes will eat that? and i guess still get along with guppies?

Ended up rounding up all the females and taking them to my LFS. Caught what i believe are the males and put them in a floating container for now. even with that..there's still about 2-3 dozen baby guppies still swimming around that i can't catch.

tank is a mess of algae and SNAILS! eliminated most of those round snails and now it's full of trumpet snails. what eat those too? i have tons and tons of them everywhere.
 

Orion

Ultimate Fish
Moderator
Feb 10, 2003
5,803
3
38
Kentucky
www.thefishcave.net
#51
More Snails are the answer! lol

Nerite Snails are killer on algae. Not sure if they will eat hair algae off the top of my head, but they eat a lot of kinds, and are VERY efficient at doing so. (Plus being a SW snail, they can live fine in FW, but can't breed without brackish)

Assassin Snail do well at what they do, hunt and eat other snails. They will eat MTS. Not sure how well they would fair with Nerites, and Nerites aren't too cheap in my area. My luck the Assassin's would leave the MTS alone and eat only the Nerites lol.

I think maybe the true SAE might eat Hair Algae? I think mollies might, but not in any quantity that will make a difference.
 

Feb 27, 2009
4,395
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36
#53
I think maybe the true SAE might eat Hair Algae? I think mollies might, but not in any quantity that will make a difference.
Jordanella floridae will destroy hair algae in my experience. I had a pair QT in a 20 long that was covered in hair algae (that's what I get for forgetting to put the timer on the light, it was on 24hrs a day for 2 or 3 wks!). I fed them once, but after I saw them munching on the algae, I checked on them, but did not feed them again for two weeks. They completely cleaned the tank and spawned!
 

arcab4

The Big Fish
The Big Fish
Oct 22, 2002
1,554
30
48
46
Sunny Southern California
#57
it's been a few years but the tank pretty much crashed by the amount of guppies i had and the waste they created a few years ago. couldn't get rid of this black fuzz algae and along with some things that happened, the tank just kinda sat there empty but still running.

but 2015 is here! stay tune for a new tank setup. (the stand pretty much rotted so will be replacing it all). :)
 

FroggyFox

Forum Manager
Moderator
May 16, 2003
8,589
10
38
42
Colorado
#58
Nice :) I will start a new thread as I'm getting ready to start up a new tank. Well, not new, just been dry for a long time and I relocated it to my office.