Jim

OK, I bought a couple new plants for the tank, most notably a beautiful Marble Queen Radicon Swordplant. But that's not why I posted this. I posted it because it's the final incarnation, so I thought I'd give it a name and a theme, so to speak. Just calling it the 46 bowfront is stupid, so this tank is from now on:

The Angelfish Garden.
Years ago, a small tree grew on an outcropping of stone near a river. Then natives came and cut down the little tree to build their homes and to clear room to grow crops. But then came the year of the great rains, and floods swept across the lands. When the waters receided, the river had shifted, and the little treestump was now submerged. Soon, plants began to sprout nearby, and a small school of Clown Loaches moved into the treestump. Tiny Otocinclus and shimmery Glass Catfish soon followed. A Banjo Catfish buried itself near the roots of the treestump, and a Bristlenose Pleco decided it was a safe place to dwell. Then finally a pair of young Angelfish swam by and decided to make the little treestump garden their home.

Barbrella

Lovely story and incredibly beautiful, serene and natural tank. The inhabitants must be in fishy heaven.

COBettaCouple

cool!

Jim

well, my female Angelfis is pregnant and ready to lay eggs... AGAIN!!! She must be happy, this is the 3rd time in 2 months!

Butterfly

they will lay about every two weeks if they are happy and don't have eggs or fry to tend
Love the tank!You've really done well with it.
The marble Radicans are beautiful- unfortunately most are raised as emersed plants and loose the pretty marbled leaves after being submerged. I said this because I had one, it lost it's leaves and I pulled it out and threw it away. Later i found out if I had left it later it would have re-grown aquatic leaves, more slender and not as marbled but still a nice plant.
I know you have already checked this out but though the emersed pics at the bottom were interesting. These grow I our local lake.http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide_viewer.php?id=91
carol

Allie

Nice tank and story.

Jim

Yeah, I am going thru the same thing with the pygmy chain swords in the front. Almost all of them came with terrestrial leaves. And i did the same thing the first time, until I read about aquatic leaves. Right now 1 of mine is totally aquatic, most about half and half, and a few newer ones have mostly terrestrial leaves. The biggest pain in the butt is trimming and removing the terrestrial leaves as they die. You can't do it too soon, or the sword dies. But you can't wait too long, or the leaf begins to rot. It's a bit tricky, but I think I have it figured out now. Eventually they'll all have switched over.
The marbled Queen Radicon is definitly beautiful, but I don't know which leaves it has right now. I'll have to watch and see what happens. I hope if it drops these leaves it keeps some of the marbling when they regrow.

Butterfly

I think whether the marbling stays or not will depend on the light. I don't remember how much or how little it needs just something stuck in my head LOL
Glad you've got the terresterial/aquatic leaf thing figured out. It can be discouraging and I didn't want you throwing perfectly good plants away like I did
Carol

Jim

I found it in Peter Hiscock's "Encyclopedia of Aquatic Plants". I will admit I was ready to give up on them until I read that. Another reason I'm telling everyone to read and research the heck out of plants and garden tank eco-systems before you do a tank like this.

Butterfly

I love peter Hiscocks book too. I also have Christel Kasselman's "Aquarium Plants" , and Barrons "Aquarium Plants Manual" and several more plant books but those are my favorites. The Aquarium Plants manual is a small book and perfect for taking with you plant shopping
Carol

Jim

It was funny, I took Hiscock's mini-encyclopedia with me to my favorite LFS, and while I was there the owner was checking it out. The next time I went back, he had 5 copies on the rack for sale, and the girl there told me he had one on his desk as well...lol!

Butterfly

I wish more LFS were that way. One of the LFS we used to go to had fish and plant books on a shelf behind the counter and if you wanted to know something he didn't know he would pull a book down and help you find an answer. It was cool.
Carol

Jim

Actually Bruce (the LFS owner) has e-mailed me twice now with questions customers had about plants that he couldn't answer himself.

Butterfly

Thats cool! Are you going to become our plant guru?
Carol

Jim

Oh yeah right! lol. o, I can kill enough of my own, I don't want to share my mistakes with anyone else! hehehe

neverendingninja

But thats the best way to teach, Jim. You have to share your mistakes so other people don't make them.

No need to be embarrassed about making mistakes, seeing as everyone is this hobby is basically conducting a long running experiment.

Gunnie

Wow! What a beautiful tank! Are you also a Plantgeek?

www.plantgeek.net

Jim

Yeah, I know. And I try and help if I can. It's just I'm really new to this myself, and although I'm learning fast, there's a ton of people out there much more qualified than I am.
I have to say, I never thought of it as a long running experiment, but that's an excellent discription. Lets see, besides the obvious fish, invert, and plant biology, you get water chemestry, substrate geology, what else Definitly ecology and a knowledge of the environment. And if you're trying for a specific regional biotrope you'll have to know the geography and ecology of the region.
yeah, this is definitly a long running science project on all levels!
Oh, I forgot... fish veterenary science and nutrition. And aquatic horticulture!

...and you didn't think you were all geeks! hehehehe