20 Gallon Long Redone

So over the past couple months I was really stressed out with finals and I was growing increasingly unhappy with my tank. It was giving me problems and just looked cramped and cluttered to me. So of course I tore it up, removed, and rearranged things.

The stock was unchanged initially, but after going away for nearly 2 weeks, I returned to a tank devoid of Molly, my mama platy. I figured she must have died and been eaten as she was nowhere on the floor. To fill the void she left, I was thinking about trying out a ram again but when I got to the fish store, something else caught my eye. As a result, I came home with 3 peacock gudgeons. 1 is a mature adult female, 1 I believe is a young female, and the third I believe is a young male. The mature female looked ready to breed and maybe when the young male matures they will breed. The stocking is a little heavy but some good maintenance and the present and future plants should fix that.

Current Fish include:

6 x Harlequin Rasbora (Little Fred is mostly grown up!)
1 x Female Platy (Mabel is the offspring of Molly)
4 x Sparkling Gourami (These guys are like a wolfpack)
3 x Peacock Gudgeon (Big Mama and the younglings)
4 x Otocinclus (These guys seem more active since I rearranged)
6 x Panda Corydoras (Los Banditos, the old standbys)
2 x Tracked Nerite Snail (Escargot and Escargogo!)

Plants:

Java Fern
Java Moss
Anubias (either standard barterI or nana, not quite sure)
Pygmy chain Sword (Echinodorus Tenellus)
2 Banana Plants
Tiger Lotus (Nymphaea zenkeri) *planned future addition
Anubias FrazerI *planned future addition
Possibly crypt lucens or parva, but the chain swords may make that unnecessary.

Without further ado, pics!

 

sorry I can only do 5 at a time.

 

Sounds like a neat stocking list

Do we get a full tank shot? ;D

 

Last post, hope you like the pictures

 

I like it!

What carpeting the substrate?

 

Thanks! I think what you're seeing is the algae on the glass. I need to get that with the scraper this week, I should scrape every week regardless from now on. The chain swords may eventually carpet.

 

Wow. You 20 long looks so much bigger than mine ;/

 

Thanks! I think what you're seeing is the algae on the glass. I need to get that with the scraper this week, I should scrape every week regardless from now on. The chain swords may eventually carpet.

You're right, it is algae lol

I rather like it

 

lOOKS GREAT!!!!!!!

 

Nice job

 

That is simply amazing. Very well (re) done. 10/10

 

Looks great. Do you have a pic of the old scape to compare?

 

Its great! What did it look like before?

Whats that on the left? Is it driftwood with plants on it or behind, or substrate just piled up?

 

Thanks!

you can see old pictures in this thread here:

A little ways down there are some pictures taken on halloween I think. That was when it still looked clean. I had some algae outbreaks shortly after that and it started feeling cramped to me so I decided to make it way more open.

The left side currently is driftwood with some java fern on top. It also has some new chain swords which will probably melt off soon because I think they are the emersed form. Conveniently the driftwood also hides the second heater.

I had a close call last night with Escargot, my nerite snail. I found him on the floor locked up in his shell. Luckily he must not have been out too long as I plopped him back in and he was on the glass about a half hour later.

Edit: Also thought I would mention, the first two pictures in this thread are of Mabel when she was maybe 3-4 weeks old. She turned 3 months old yesterday!

 

Looks good. I like the pot in between the driftwood. Pot looks good buried like that.

 

Definitely looks better compared to the old scape. This one I think flows better and has a much smoother look. Need to clean up the algae though

 

Best picture ever?

 

That's cute! It really captured the blue in the fins

 

I was originally trying to capture just the smiley oto but I was too shaky with my camera. I switched to my phone and took three pictures and this one was right in the middle.

Oto: "HI!"
Sparkler: "...hello?..."

 

great looking tank

and cute little fishies lol

 

lol! It does look like the otto poped up to say, "HEY HOWS IT GOING?!?! WHATS GOING ON OVER HERE?!?!"

 

Nice tank and interesting mix of fish!

Are your peacock gudgeons peaceful? I used to have a trio in my 29gal and they nipped everyone... The neon tetras, honey gourami, and even the otos. Maybe I just had psycho gudgeons.

 

Nice tank and interesting mix of fish!

Are your peacock gudgeons peaceful? I used to have a trio in my 29gal and they nipped everyone... The neon tetras, honey gourami, and even the otos. Maybe I just had psycho gudgeons.

They are definitely peaceful. 2 of them are still really small, but even big mama is very peaceful. They're all very inquisitive and social, but not nippy.

 

I'd love to see more pictures of your Gudgeons

 

Sorry I've been really busy. My classes are ridiculous this semester. Here are a few pictures and some quick updates. The new pygmy swords are in the process of melting off their old leaves, but a few of them have produced multiple runners already. Some of the runners can be seen at the bottom of the pic with the otto and gudgeon. The gudgeons are all doing well. Escargogo, on of my nerite snails disappeared sometime in the last few weeks I think. Haven't seen him in forever. Nowhere in or out. Sparkling gouramis are doing well. I hear them clicking nightly(usually only at night), this is a good thing right?

2 posts w/ 3 pics each.

 

Back to classes with me! Enjoy!

 

Looks great! Your sparkling gouramis look like they are doing very well.